Karl Urban ‘Didn’t Give a Damn’ About Sylvester Stallone’s Thoughts on ‘Judge Dredd’
Sylvester Stallone was famously cast as Judge Dredd years before Karl Urban took up the role. But although Stallone was his predecessor, Urban quipped Stallone’s feelings would have little affect on his own thoughts.
Karl Urban revealed how his Judge Dredd would be different than Sylvester Stallone’s
Stallone explored the comic book genre when he was cast as the titular character Judge Dredd. The actor played a law authority in a corrupt future where he was judge, jury, and executioner to all criminals. In Jane Killick’s The Making of Judge Dredd, it was revealed that Stallone was the first choice for the role. Stallone took to the initial draft of the script immediately.
“Sly was the first person we thought of and the one and only person we showed the script to. He fell in love with [it] and we decided to look no further,” film producer Andrew G. Vajna said in the book.
Judge Dredd wasn’t the success that he and others hoped it’d be, however. It was both a critical and financial disappointment, which put a stop to a possible franchise. However, studios would give a Judge Dredd adaptation another chance decades later. The 2012 feature would see Karl Urban as the character instead, and his movie would simply be titled Dredd.
In an interview with MTV News, Urban reassured fans that his version of the film wouldn’t be anything like Stallone’s.
“I saw [Stallone’s] movie when it came out in ’94. Tonally, these films couldn’t be more different,” he said. “I think it’s a difference of if you like your characters wearing lycra and gold cod pieces, then his film’s the one for you. But if you like badass movie where your heroes are real and wearing leather and motorbike suits and body armor and hardcore gritty punches, this is the one for you.”
During the interview, Urban was asked whether or not he was interested in Stallone’s thoughts on the reboot.
“I don’t give a damn what he thinks,” Urban quipped.
Sylvester Stallone was paid $12 million for his biggest career regret
Ironically, the Judge Dredd movie Urban described might’ve been the one Stallone was truly interested in doing. The Dredd script Stallone was initially given wasn’t the movie he ended up starring in.
The film went through several rewrites, with screenwriters being brought on who tailored the movie to their sensibilities and preferences. The result might’ve been a much lighter and campier Judge Dredd film than the vision Stallone was initially invested in. The end product ended up being one of his biggest regrets.
“I think the biggest mistake I ever made was the sloppy handling of Judge Dredd. I think that could have been a fantastic, nihilistic interesting vision of the future. With all the pop culture, that really bothered me a great deal,” he once said at a press conference according to Indie London.
But according to screenwriter James Crumley, they at least gave Stallone a hefty sum that added to his already massive net worth.
“Then they ended up paying Stallone $12 Million just to do it,” Crumley said.
‘Judge Dredd’ creator felt Sylvester Stallone could’ve made a fantastic Dredd
Judge Dredd creator John Wagner agreed with many who didn’t like the first movie. But in an interview with Hero Complex (via Collider), Wagner didn’t feel that the Rocky star was the problem. He even felt the actor might’ve done a capable Judge Dredd if he was given the right material. One of Wagner’s biggest gripes was that Stallone showed his face in the movie. This was at odds with the character, who always wore a helmet.
“They told the wrong story — it didn’t have that much to do with Dredd the character as we know him. I don’t think Stallone was a bad Dredd, though it would have been better and lent him more cred if he hadn’t revealed his face. He was just Dredd in the wrong story,” Wagner said.
